A gaff typically comprises an elongated shank having a hook on one end thereof and a handle on the other end thereof. The user commonly grips the gaff by the handle but he may instead grip it by the shank, using the handle only as an abutment to take the thrust of his hand when he lands the fish. Some handles are gripped by a handshake-type grip. Others are gripped more palm-down, with the shank interposed between the fingers of the hand. It is this latter type of handle, however, which fishermen commonly abandon, and instead, grip the shank with a handshake-type grip. Since all of the handles are coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the shank, a handshake grip--whether of the handle or the shank--requires that the user bend his hand downwardly from his forearm at the wrist to execute the grip. This risks fatiguing his arm, due to the unnatural way in which he must angle his hand to it when pulling the weight of the fish, and risks injury to his arm in the form of pulled tendons. Alternatively, using a palm-down grip, with the shank between his fingers, the user risks injury to his fingers in the form of torn skin between them due to the rotation or other action of the shank of the gaff within his grip. The palm-down grip also offers the user less control of the gaff, particularly in avoiding hitting the side of the boat when he misses a fish, and that is why many users commonly resort to the shank, and a handshake grip thereof, in holding the gaff.